Patna, Feb. 5: Son of the soil and noted historian late R.S. Sharma would be given a tribute at a grand event in the state capital in April.

The Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), Delhi, would organise a national-level seminar in the city to celebrate the life and works of its founding chairman, Sharma.

The three-day event based on the theme “Ancient India Re-visited” would focus on Sharma’s contribution to the study of ancient India, secularism, communalism and feudalism in the country. While ICHR has conceptualised and is financing the event, Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library, KP Jayaswal Research Institute and Asiatic Society, Bihar chapter, would execute it.

Contemporaries of Sharma, including Romila Thapar and Irfan Habib, are likely to participate in the seminar to be held from April 6 to 8. Students of history and archaeology from across the nation are expected to participate in the event.

Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, the director of KP Jayaswal Research Institute, said: “ICHR has decided to organise the national-level seminar in Patna on April 6, 7 and 8 to commemorate Sharma. The responsibility of organising the event has been entrusted on KP Jayaswal Research Institute, Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library and the Bihar chapter of Asiatic Society.”

He added: “Though the exact programme schedule for the event is yet to be finalised, we intend to organise the conglomeration of people involved with the study of ancient India and other fields of expertise of Sharma, either in the last week of February or first week of March.”

Chaudhary added: “We have prepared a list of 20 national-level delegates, including historians and contemporaries of Sharma like Romila Thapar and Irfan Habib and five local historians. Students and scholars in history from across the country would also present research papers, give critical lectures and hold discussions on the works of Sharma.”